Every few hours either squeeze the towel or use a spoon to stir it to help it to drain faster.

And after about 6 hours you have nice thick Greek yogurt!

Let me tell you……this stuff is AMAZING. It is so rich and creamy, and incredibly mild compared to regular plain yogurt….it’s not as tart.

I added in some honey and it was just glorious! You could also add in some fresh fruit- oh that sounds lovely.

WORTH THE COST? YES – a tub of greek yogurt costs between $3-$5 at the stores. You can buy a gallon of milk at Costco for around $2.00 and it will make around the same amount of greek yogurt. So you are saving money by making it yourself.

WORTH THE TIME? Although it is super simple to make, making greek yogurt does take around 22 hours to make. Most of it is just sitting there, so it’s not labor intensive. It does the work itself. To me it’s worth the time since I use greek yogurt almost every day and the savings are great too.

I was hoping to make my greek yogurt taste like the Greek Gods Honey yogurt, but the texture just wasn’t exactly the same as I wanted it to be. But the flavor came pretty close. If I ever do figure out how to make it taste like the Greek Gods brand I will let you know. There must be a secret ingredient…hmmm..

I think I will try next time making this in a crock pot instead. I hear it works just as well.

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I make greek yogurt once a week. We barter RAW milk ( A-2/A-2 tested ) for eggs… (you convinced me last month to go back to cows milk from goats milk if I could find an A-2 line.. which I did!!!) Once a week I bring out the ol excaliber dehydrator ( its a beast, but I wish they still made them… worth thier weight in gold and filled presently with strawberries)… and fill up 4 qt jars with milk… the cream I skim and switch back and forth from butter and whipped cream ( angel food cake anyone?)… some I am saving for ice cream…lol Try a ‘dash’ of vanilla… and you can also use agave syrup or maple syrup to sweeten… we havent ‘bought’ yogurt in ages… Every few months I will buy a small container of Nancy’s organic plain yogurt to use as start up when I forget to save some… they seem to have the best ‘cultures’ for home made. Don’t you just love flour sack cloth… its the most versatile cloth in my kitchen… the country is calling Karrie… can you hear it in the breeze??? “Karrie…. move out of the suburbs and into your life…”

I have a small portable fridge that I can plug either in the car or in the usual socket. I say a fridge as I use it for cold drinks during long-distance driving. But, I realized there was a switch and it is possible to use it for keeping food or drinks warm. So, it came on my mind I could try to use it for making homemade yogurt as well. 🙂

I tried the oven and had poor results with mine, so I use a small Rubbermaid lunch cooler. I heat a cup of water, place a cloth in the bottom of the cooler and pour in the hot water just before setting my four jelly jars inside. After much experimentation, I like the jelly jars best for containers. I make four cups at a time as I am a single person, and I don’t strain the yogurt. You end up with only half as much after straining, and there is not so much separation when you use small jars instead of a large bowl or pot. It takes only about 4 hours for the yogurt to set up in the cooler. I start with Iggi’s plain Greek style yogurt, save 2 tbs. for a starter until it “wears out” after 4 or 5 batches. Certainly, if I wanted extra thick yogurt for some occasion, I could strain it.

I use fat free milk, and heat 1/2 gal a time in the microwave in an 8 cup Pyrex bowl (with pouring spout). It takes 15 minutes in the micro, then let cool until time to add the starter (yogurt). Love it, and glad you’re sharing it.

I make yogurt in the crockpot. Pour 1gal milk in the crock, turn on high for about 2 1/2 hours. You want tiny bubbles around the edge of the milk but not boiling. Then uncover, turn off the crockpot, and let sit about 2 hrs or until you can hold your finger in the milk for ten seconds. Remove the skin on top and Mix in 1cup of yogurt really well. Replace lid and wrap a towel around the back and front and I lay one over the top as well. Let it sit for 8-12 hours and you have yogurt. I let mine sit about 10 hours. I strain in small batches and save the whey for use in baking and smoothies. I love the milder flavor of homemade. It’s sortof cream cheesy.

I use a corningware bowl to microwave bout a half gallon of 1% milk, it takes 11 minutes in a 1100 watt microwave oven to reach 180 degrees and then cool down to between 118 to 100 degrees. I use an instant read thermometer to check.

I take a cupful of the milk and whisk into the measuring cup with the about 3 tablespoons of Chobani yogurt. Pour the mixture back into the bowl and whisk with rest of milk. Place in Euro Cuisine Yogurt Maker for 7 1/2 hours then strain the whey using linen towel in a wire mesh strainer. Makes great greek yogurt every time.

Hi Karrie,
I make yogurt in the crock pot but never squeeze the “juice” out! My daughter will love that as it will be thicker. Thanks! What do you do with the whey? I use mine in smoothies or juice. Protein boost and hate to waste it. chickens like it too! :0)

Ditch trying to make mozzarella again (that looked like so much work) and try homemade riccotta cheese instead. So easy. I made my first batch yesterday and it was divine.

Heat 1 gallon whole milk to around 180 degrees F. Then stir in 1/3 c white vinegar. Riccotta curds will form like magic. Then simply pour into a colander lined with cheesecloth and allow cheese to drain until desired consistancy. I only let mine drain for about 30 minutes and it was firm enough for my liking. Then made 1 pan of stuffed shells and 2 pans of lasagna for the freezer (I originally found your blog looking for freezer cooking ideas, then fell in love.)

You can also make the riccotta with 1 gallon of milk and 1 quart of buttermilk (instead of the vinegar), heating both to 180 degrees F, then letting sit for 30 minutes for curds to form. When I tried this method first, my yield was low and what was supposed to be whey was still milky. I just added the vinegar at this point and the curds formed perfectly.

I made this today and its amazing! I cant believe how simple this is yet so expensive in the stores! I yeilded almost 3lbs from the gallon of milk. though it was a bit lumpy texture wise I stumbled upon a solution. I wanted to encorporate honey and vanilla so I threw everything into my stand mixture and whipped all together….omg, so delish. so smooth and thick. topped off a serving with squeeze of fresh lime and another drizzle of honey and id have sworn I was eating key lime pie! thank you for selflessly posting these recipes for all to enjoy.

I came across your website today, it looks great. I love trying to make things from scratch.

I’ve been making yogurt for a while, although it’s a cheats method, where by using milk powder you cut out having to sterilise milk. Believe me, if you have a yogurt gobbling family, it saves lots of time and mess. It won’t have quite the same taste as milk but is still very good and very different from shop bought yogurt.

And what to do with whey – freeze it in ice cubes and use this as your starter – it still contains the yogurt bacteria.

I’ve bought a (actually 2) yogurt makers (AU$20 each), which is basically a plastic insulator in which the yogurt container sits nicely). So the recipe:

140g milk powder (or equivalent to make 1L, more will make thicker yogurt so you don’t have to drain to get a Greek texture)
50-60g sugar (optional for flavoured yogurt, but your yogurt goes watery if you mix it in afterwards)
2 ice cubes whey
Fill your 1L container with tap water, above 20-25C will help it set quicker.
And MIX – voila!

This literally takes 3 minutes to do – just enough while your waiting for the kettle to boil (to fill your insulator. And I never let the boiling water rise up the sides of the container (for tall 1L containers), which is what they suggest. If your yogurt water is not too cold in the beginning you won’t have trouble setting it in 8 hours.

If you love making from milk, try adding 1/2 a cup of milk powder to your milk, you will definitely have a thicker, more set product.

One of my Greek batches I drain to get labneh, which I flavour with salt, pepper, garlic and herbs. Use this whey to freeze. And if you add cream to your yogurt before draining you will get a cheese that is very similar to cream cheese – yum!

I was introduced to God’s Greek Yogurt on one of our travels. Fell in love! (I also preferred the honey) but when I got home, they did not carry it here. 🙁 so, I found that honey and straight cinnamon tastes the same to this girl! Lots of honey; a little bit of cinnamon to get the God’s Greek Yogurt taste! Love your blog BTW, & thank you!!!! Is very nice to be able to share this advice. 🙂

Thanks for the entire blogs, you’re so clever! Just a Q here about the Greek yogurt. This process you’re using is similar to what the Lebanese call “labne”, or strained yogurt. On the package of labne the protein content is 11% protein per serving, however on the Greek yogurt package, the protein content is double that for the the same serving size. So I am wondering if the Greek yogurt is an altogether different starter yogurt than regular yogurt?

I love making Greek yogurt. I do almost everything you do, except:
1) I usually cool down the milk quickly by putting the pot into a sink of cold water
2) after straining out the whey, I puree the lumpy yogurt with a handheld immersion blender – makes it incredibly smooth!
I also love the idea of using extra milk powder, and of using the whey as the starter!
I usually dump the whey on my garden – there must be something in there that is good for plants…

Karrie – just found your blog and am lovin’ it. I’m lactose intolerant so I don’t drink cow milk. I would like to make Greek yogurt with almond or coconut milk. Have you ever tried it that way? I wonder if it would work?
Thanks
Gini

Well, you need to have a starter with yogurt of some kind so I am not sure. If there is a coconut milk yogurt starter, you may be able to do it. Give it a try and let me know. Experimenting is really fun.

Hello! Thank you so much for all your tips and tricks. My family and I LOVE them! I’m just wondering about the homemade greeek yogurt:
How long can I keep the starter? Can I freeze it, or how long will it stay good in the fridge. How long will the yogurt itself keep in the refrigerator?
Thank you, thank you!
Angie

I love making yogurt, I use the oven light method like you but in smaller batches. I add 1/2 cup of dry milk to make it thicker like greek yogurt, sometimes you just don’t feel like waiting for that last step. I also don’t use a thermometer for the temp but my finger, If I can leave my pinky finger in the hot milk and count to 20 then it’s ready. I once took the temp and it was 120. I think one benefit to maling your own is that you can have fat in your yogurt. It’s near impossible to find anything but non-fat yogurt at the store.

Hey, could I make this recipe in half? Would like to try today but am not going into town until tomorrow and don’t want to use up all my milk for my little lady. And can I use plain Greek yogurt as my starter?

Dear Karrie and other readers. In this article/post is missing one extremely important detail. You can create homemade Greek yogurt ONLY IF YOU USE GREEK YOGURT for yeast (as Karrie did). Any other type of yogurt makes just plane dried yogurt. The real greek yogurt contains meanly Lactobacillus Bulgaricus which is bacterium strain from Balkan Peninsula (southern Europe). Here, in America into yogurt exists only Lactobacillus Acidophilus which gives different taste and texture.

I have heard that you need to use Greek yogurt as a starter to make Greek yogurt. I haven’t tried using a regular yogurt to make Greek yogurt before as I use my old batch of yogurt as a starter for the next batch. Try it out and let me know if it works!

According to the manual of my yogurt maker, you do not need to use Greek yogurt as starter to make Greek yogurt. That makes sense when you realize that Greek yogurt is basically conventional yogurt with its whey strained out.

Put another way, to make Greek yogurt you first have to make conventional yogurt, which means there can’t be fundamental differences between the bacteria needed for the two types of yogurts (though of course, not all yogurts have identical bacteria collections).

Hi there!
I would like to make your recipe but have a question first… When you heat the oven at 100 degrees, do you mean Fahrenheit or Celcius?
As you’re in the US I’m guessing it’s ºF but I better make sure before I start right 😉

I love making Greek yogurt in the crockpot, im fourtunate enough to have a crockpot that has a probe thermometer. It almost takes 4L (1 gallon) of milk, and i add 2 cups milk powder. I just set it to 180 degrees and then it beeps at me, i uncover it, take it out and put it on the stove top and use a thermometer that came with and old espresso maker i had until it gets to about 110 then i add the yogurt, wrap in a towel and put in the oven overnight. In the morning i put it a colander lined with cheesecloth or a thin dishtowel over a bowl. Refridgerate for a few hours (i let it go all day when i went to work and it was a bit more like a wierd thin cheese! Oops! still tasted good). I love mine with honey, peanut butter and cinnamon and a handful of sliced almonds if we have some. I literally have it every day so it makes sense for me to make it. That and our town is often out of things like the brand i enjoy! So easy especially if like us, you use it in place of sour cream in dressings and dips. The thicker it is the less you notice its yogurt!

Hi Sarah! I know it’s been 6 months since you posted this, but I’m crossing my fingers that you’ll see it! 🙂

You mentioned that your crockpot has a probe thermometer . . . I would REALLY LOVE to know what brand/model of crockpot you have and where it can be purchased! My crockpot was part of my “hope chest” from high school and I love it but it’s over 30 years old! I graduated in 1981! :-0 (geez I’m feeling so old looking at that!) Anyway, now days the only crockpots that I can find have a dial that says, Low, Med, & Hi. Mine has a dial on it that has a temp setting similar to an electric fryer that plugs into the bottom side of the pot. I LOVE my crockpot, but it will eventually need to be replaced. And now that I have “realized” that I can make yogurt in it, . . . it will be MUCH sooner than later! You’re welcome to email me personally at shellyscorner at yahoo dot com. (I hope that’s okay Karrie! Not trying to break any rules, just trying to avoid being off topic so to speak in the comments!) Thanks so much for getting back with me! (to ANYONE who knows where a crockpot like this can be gotten and gets back with me!!!)

Have you ever had this yogurt result with a smokey taste? I did leave the yogurt in the oven with the light on for more like 18 hours. Do you think that extra time changed it? …Also my pan has a lot of burned milk on the bottom after cooking and most came off but some is still sticking. Do you think that I heated it too hot? Do you get a burned pan after making yogurt? Maybe that is where the smokey taste came from. Any suggestions on cleaning up after would be appreciated! Thanks again for your recipe. I will give it another shot for sure. I really would love to be making my own greek yogurt!

I am afraid of the chemicals in old dryer sheets. I just soak my pans in a strong baking soda solution with hot water overnight. Then use more baking soda on a scrubbee pad. It works well and is all natural

two thoughts – the texture that you do not have versus Greek Gods (which by the by is my favorite store bought Greek yogurt as well!) is probably because they add pectin. That may well be the difference in texture.

And they do, have the L. bulgarus (sp) as well as a few other cultures, so not sure that it has to be only L bulgaris to call it “Greek yogurt” ?

Hi Karrie! ~ I JUST FINISHED making my VERY FIRST batch of yogurt in my crockpot!!! It is WITH OUT A DOUBT THE BEST YOGURT THAT I HAVE EVER MADE OR EATEN!!! It was SO SIMPLE!

I took 1 gal of whole milk, poured it into the crockpot, set it at the highest setting and after about 1 – 1 1/2 hours I began checking the temp on it about every 15 – 20 mins. When it hit the desired 180 degrees I sat the ceramic pot in my kitchen sink filled with water about 1/3 of the way up the side. I did put in a little bit of ice to help facilitate the cooling process. (if you choose to do that, watch it VERY closely! At least closer than I did!) I took a cup of yogurt and set it out on the counter to warm UP TO room temp while waiting for the milk to cool down. I also dipped out 1 cup of the milk and sat it on the counter as well. When it got down to the 100 degree mark I mixed the cup of yogurt and cup of milk together with a whisk in a small bowl and then mixed it into the crock of cooled milk. Mixing the yogurt with a cup of milk made it easier to mix in with the main crock of milk and allowed me to be more gentle in the mixing. I remeasured the milk temp when I sat it back into the outer metal part of the crockpot and realized that the milk had cooled down quite a bit more than I realized it had as I had not taken it out of the water for one thing and secondly, I had not watched it as well as I should have and it got slightly cooler to begin with than it should have! (Moral is don’t get caught up with anything else, ie: huhhmmm… …watching a tv show …… instead of checking your temps!) So I turned the crockpot BACK ON to a medium temp setting and GENTLY stirred it while it warmed back up to between 100 and 110 degrees. I then unplugged it and covered it and wrapped it in two LARGE, HEAVY bath towels, let it set for about 8 hours and have the MOST BEAUTIFUL homemade yogurt I have EVER seen! And the taste is PHENOMENAL! It is currently sitting on the counter draining out its whey!

As to one of the questions raised above, the yogurt I used was the Wal-Mart brand of plain non-fat yogurt. We do actually carry the Greek Gods brand here where I live in Greensboro, NC, but frankly, on a VERY fixed limited disability income, I can’t afford the almost $4-$5 per quart of the plain yogurt. And the plain “flavor” doesn’t come in a smaller size package here that I can find. It may not be packaged in a smaller size anywhere in the plain, though the various flavors other than plain are packaged in individual size serving packages. I guess they figure no one would want/eat an individual plain size! (I can understand why they might think that)(but I do think its a little narrow minded).

Oh! Karrie! ONE more thing! I had a thought. Tell me if you can think of any reason why it WOULDN’T work! I’ve only had Greek yogurt once. It was a store bought brand (not Greek God’s) I recently tried it, knowing I was planning on making some soon. But frankly I didn’t care for it. It was sorely lacking! It was smooth, it was thick, but it left me very unsatisfied. But I haven’t been able to put my finger on why. So I don’t know if I’m going to feel differently about the homemade version or not. Hopefully I will. But here’s the thing. I realized this morning, while trying to decide whether to strain, or not to strain, that if I strained it, then decided that I really preferred it NOT strained. . . theoretically I should be able to gently mix some of the whey back in until I reached my desired consistency. . . correct? Or is there a fundamental “FLAW” in my plan that I am unaware of?

Karrie, THANK YOU SO MUCH for EVERYTHING that you share with us and the time you spend putting it all together even BEFORE putting it in the blog! I understand that you do receive some compensation, but regardless, ….. this is a BIG job to do all by ones self! Again, thank you! You do an exceptional job!
Shelly
p.s. I tried to give this a 5 star rating below, but it would only allow me to do a 4 star…. I don’t understand why, but just wanted to make sure that you knew, both for the technical purposes, but also because you deserve the 5th start! 😉

Shelly, thank you! I am so happy you like it…really made my day! I can’t think of a reason adding it back in would harm it but the consistency might change a little bit. Try it out and let me know what you think about how it turns out!

Hey Karrie, You’re VERY welcome! I did try it and have to say, the Greek yogurt is just a little to thick for my personnel preference. It’s almost like taking the whey out takes something away from the flavor for me. So I DID try adding some of the whey back in to thin it back out some (changing the consistency was actually the part of the point) but it worked perfectly, like I had never strained it out! I’ve made homemade yogurt before, but this was BY FAR the best. After thinking about it, I doubt it had anything to do with using the crockpot per se, but rather the fact that it was made using ALL MILK and NOT A POWDERED MILK BASE! The difference is PHENOMENAL!

Also, you might already be aware of this site, but just in case your not, I’m going to leave the url link for you:

They sell just about ANYTHING and EVERYTHING you need for making various different cheeses and yogurts at home. (including various different cultures for cheeses and yogurt, as well as animal and vegetable based rennet tablets) It’s a very interesting site. They even have a section with recipes and cheese making info. They also have a blog site that I really think you might enjoy!:

I came across your website via Stumble Upon and have found it very interesting. Good job.

I use Greek yogurt every morning to make a smoothie for breakfast, so I certainly will try this method. I use milk-based yogurt for my smoothie, but use almond milk as the smoothie base. Do you or one of your readers know if you can you make yogurt with almond milk?

Several years ago I was into making kefir when someone gave me a culture, but I never really liked the taste or consistancy.

Just found your website and LOVE the great instructions and helpful hints from everyone.
To make a very thick product to replace cream cheese in recipes, I use a coffee filter in a strainer placed over a bowl to catch the whey cover the entire thing with plastic wrap and set in the refrigerator for a day or two…depending on the amount of firmness you need. I have used the whey to marinate chicken breasts…very tender and juicy.

I make yogurt in the crockpot because if I allow it to cool with the lid on, there is no layer that needs to be skimmed. One less step. 🙂

Recently I made yogurt from greek yogurt, and my family didn’t like the texture – it was lumpy. So I checked out the ingredients, and it included corn starch! I think the corn starch in the yogurt made the lumps and is a crazy marketing ploy for them to charge more for yogurt! Yikes!

I have tried making yogurt in the oven with the light on but mine always turns out very thin, like kefir. I am not sure what I am doing wrong but suspect not enough heat. The Crockpot method looks promising. Have any of you tried incubating the mixture on the “warm” setting for the 6-8 hour stretch, or is that too much heat for too long? TIA

I have had good luck using an oven, and rather than using the oven light, I ran a small work/task light with a 100 watt incandescent bulb. The cord did not seem to get dangerously pinched by the oven door, as there was enough “give” in the door edging. It maintained a great temperature between 100 and 110 degrees F.

I haven’t yet tried making the strained greek yogurt, but I have made unstrained, “regular” yogurt using live-culture greek yogurt from the supermarket — one of my favorites is the “Noosa” brand. It is available in a “honey” flavor without any fruit on the bottom. I have also made kefir from both packaged, “Yougormet” brand starter and from Lifeway brand plain kefir as a starter. I found that I like the packaged starter results better.

Back to the yogurt — for a tangy-er flavor, let the culture work for 24 hours — the results will also be thicker.

We always called this ‘yogurt cheese’. I never had Greek yogurt, so maybe it’s time I tried some.
I love the crockpot idea. I usually make mine in an old mayo jar wrapped in a heating pad on low, inside a styrofoam cooler covered with a thick dishtowel-because the top won’t close with the cord hanging out.
Making more tonight…

OMG i just found this site and i must say i have to visit it more often. I have never made my own yogurt before but sounds like it may not be too hard to try. I just learned how to do refrigerator pickling of my jalepenos i started to grow. Love LOVE LOVE LOVE the site so far. What exactly is teh whey? The thick stuff that you get if you strain to get the “greek” yogurt?

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